


Ikkaba II (The Wanderer's Dedication)

by lferion



Series: Ikkaba Poetry [2]
Category: Bernice Summerfield (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures - Various Authors, Original Work
Genre: Alien Culture, Gen, Poetry, Repetitive Form
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 18:58:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9285575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lferion/pseuds/lferion
Summary: The poem that caused the scholars of the Ikkaba to call the author "the Wanderer."





	

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Kate and Jon. This poem and the material quoted were originally published in Appendix 1 in "Walking to Babylon" by Kate Orman. I wrote Appendix 1, and did the art for it.

Walk into the fire, O Wanderer  
Walk into the future with your words  
Walk wondering, among the stars

Step into the storm, O Wanderer  
Pace the present, chisel-pen in hand  
Walk open eyed amidst wonder

Turn from the temple, O Wanderer  
Pour out the past as a path  
Wonders walk within the dusty stones

Embrace the lightning, O Wanderer  
Turn from the temple, step into the storm  
Walk into the fire, bleeding words--  
In wonder walk among the stars and stones

 

* * *

Notes on the structure of Ikkaban poem PsSpt7-ii, known commonly as 'The Wanderer's Dedication':

This inscription is one of the most formal in structure of all the early repetitive Ikkaban poems yet located. It seems to be a dedication: that is, the writer is committing themself to the work/action described. This is apparent in the unusual form of the 'wanderer' glyph: the strongly marked 'S' curve and the changes in the last element. The strong self-identification is seen elsewhere only in the fragmentary (and very early) EpSco2-v (no common name), and at the end of Ach4-iv ('The Pomegranate Lament'). This does not come across particularly well in English.

It is thought that this is a formal dedication also because of the strong structure and scansion present. The repetitions are patterned, not only in the glyphs/concepts, but in the structure. Close examination of the original carving shows this clearly.

Various orthographic and stylistic idiosyncrasies point to the author of this piece also being the author of ZAq4-i ('The Wanderer's Lament'), EIN4-iii ('An Eye for Wisdom'), and possibly EIN6-vi ('The Gravity Well'), and the aforementioned Ach4-iv.

[From page 255 of "Walking to Babylon', by Kate Orman, Virgin Publishing Ltd. 1997]


End file.
